Discussion What do you define as self harm?

[ms.astral_01]

Self-harm is something that is defined by many people on this site differently. Personally, I define it as hurting yourself until there is noticeable bleeding, but I've seen others describe it to the point of just a noticeable bruise. Wanted to know y'alls thoughts on this. What would you consider to be the definition of "self-harm"?

 

[Zetsubou]

Hmmm, your username sounds very familiar

I personally define self-harm as inflicting any sort of mental or physical pain on yourself during distress. This would include the "classic" definition of self-harm such as cutting, but it also includes things like hitting yourself, purposely viewing content that you know is triggering to you, purposely starving yourself, etc.

 

[ms.astral_01]

Hmmm, your username sounds very familiar

I personally define self-harm as inflicting any sort of mental or physical pain on yourself during distress. This would include the "classic" definition of self-harm such as cutting, but it also includes things like hitting yourself, purposely viewing content that you know is triggering to you, purposely starving yourself, etc.

We do have similar usernames, haha. Thanks for your response, watching things like gore often seems like self harm to me, even though it's not physical.

 

[dimstar]

I think if your doing something with intent on harming yourself that's self harm. Can even be small but if its intentional for the purpose of hurting yourself I'd count it. When I'd be in one of my lows I'd push people away because I knew it might make things better, even exploding normal relationships to feel worse. I'd call that self harm. I use to burn myself I think most people would consider that self harm. I also at times drank till I'd black out or throw up or at least feel like shit the next day for the sole purpose of hurting myself with out leaving any viable "self harm".

 

[ms.astral_01]

I think if your doing something with intent on harming yourself that's self harm. Can even be small but if its intentional for the purpose of hurting yourself I'd count it. When I'd be in one of my lows I'd push people away because I knew it might make things better, even exploding normal relationships to feel worse. I'd call that self harm. I use to burn myself I think most people would consider that self harm. I also at times drank till I'd black out or throw up or at least feel like shit the next day for the sole purpose of hurting myself with out leaving any viable "self harm".

I agree with burning as a self-harm method - although I do have one question. Did you purposely light yourself on fire, or did you actively look places where fire is common and just... jump in?

 

[saltero]

Self-harm is something that is defined by many people on this site differently. Personally, I define it as hurting yourself until there is noticeable bleeding, but I've seen others describe it to the point of just a noticeable bruise. Wanted to know y'alls thoughts on this. What would you consider to be the definition of "self-harm"?

Self harm is anything done to hurt yourself without the intent to ctb. I'd class just about any attack on oneself as self harm, and I think any type of self harm should be respected as it is and never classified as being done for "attention".

 

[locked*n*loaded]

Self harm could be defined as harming yourself in any way, be it physically, emotionally, financially, socially...................perhaps in a self-sabotaging manner whereby you push friends away, spend more than you can afford, beat yourself up over perceived, or even real, physical attributes, etc., such that it harms your self-esteem and creates an inner belief that your worth is less than others.

 

[dimstar]

I agree with burning as a self-harm method - although I do have one question. Did you purposely light yourself on fire, or did you actively look places where fire is common and just... jump in?

Oh no, I would put cigarettes out on myself or heat up metal and press it into my skin. Actually made some sorta pretty scar patterns.

 

[ms.astral_01]

Oh no, I would put cigarettes out on myself or heat up metal and press it into my skin. Actually made some sorta pretty scar patterns.

In that case, self-harm was a form of art. You might wanna stop doing that though...

 

[dimstar]

In that case, self-harm was a form of art. You might wanna stop doing that though...

Scarification. I haven't done that in a few years. Partially because it was really addicting and secondly I was running out of room where I could hide it without going over other scars. Now if I get the urge and it wont go away I have a little patch for old fashioned cutting.

 

[FuneralCry]

I see it as being someone choosing to inflict more suffering onto themselves for the sake of doing so. I believe that self harm is largely a coping mechanism for many people, but it's in no way my thing. Existence in itself is harmful enough for me without this, I wouldn't wish to cause harm to myself as with life comes unlimited potential to be harmed.

 

[empty]

I guess I use a stricter definition of self-harm than some. I think self-harm is deliberately causing direct physical damage to yourself without trying to die from it. I think that "emotional self-harm" is really just self-sabotage.

 

[redbathingduck]

I think it can be pretty broad. I think it can even be unintentional sometimes with people who like don't or aren't able to take care of themselves due to mental distress resulting in not eating for days, poor hygiene and things like that. I could see why people wouldn't really classify that as self harm though. I used to cut myself to try and distract myself from the thoughts but the scars just made me feel worse so I stopped doing that. Nowadays I often repeatedly smash my fists on like a hard surface to have the pain as a distraction from my thoughts, or smash my head into the closet or wall and things like that. It doesn't really leave any visible scars but I still get to turn off my thoughts for a bit at least

 

[marudekinoumitai]

I've recently expanded my understanding of self-harm as I've realized that it's a big motivator for a lot of my actions. For example I struggle with a form of bulimia and I think that counts as self-harm, even if that's not what people would usually think of. But it could totally be even more abstract than that, like I've heard of "digital self-harm" where someone might read hate messages against a group they're part of, etc. There's definitely more to it than hurting yourself until you bleed/bruise imo

 

[hellispink]

Anything that harms you emotionally or physically. Not just scars and cutting or hitting. It can be pulling hair, staying with abusive people because one thinks thats all one deserves etc. There is million of ways to harm oneself and die slowly because of it

 

[ThrowedAway]

I would define it as anything that hurts you physically, mentally or causes any distress to you. For example if you hate horror movies and forced yourself to watch one, I would consider that as self harm.

 

[senzim]

Self-harm is something that is defined by many people on this site differently. Personally, I define it as hurting yourself until there is noticeable bleeding, but I've seen others describe it to the point of just a noticeable bruise. Wanted to know y'alls thoughts on this. What would you consider to be the definition of "self-harm"?

For me, I define self harm as any action that causes pain to yourself physically or mentally. The most common form is cutting so I can see why you would define it as that.

 

[ms.astral_01]

For me, I define self harm as any action that causes pain to yourself physically or mentally. The most common form is cutting so I can see why you would define it as that.

Through opening this thread I received many insightful responses I didn't even imagine. Like for example, I didn't exactly think trash talking yourself or watching gore could be self-harm, but now I can see it. I often do both, and very much know that it's true that I feel terrible about myself.